On 19 March 2025, shortly before his passing, Pope Francis released a message for the world in preparation for the 62nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations. He encouraged young people to be “pilgrims of hope, courageous in dedicating their lives to Christ and joyful in being his missionary disciples”.
This profound message reflects the Jubilee Year as a time of renewal, mercy, and mission. At the core, it is a call to entrust our lives to God and to receive the peace that comes with placing our hope in Him. Whatever vocation one may embrace, each heart is called to be brave and be open to the whisper of God’s voice.
In this Jubilee Year, there is no better time than now find peace and hope through a renewed faith.
In particular, the young people of our Church are called to uncover the hope that lives buried beneath fear. In his message, Pope Francis urges leaders within the Church to “foster vocations” by “readily accompany[ing] young people with the hope, patience and trust that reflect God’s own pedagogy”. The Catholic Youth Parramatta (CYP) team is actively living out this call of accompaniment and trusting that the Lord will lead the way in their work.
Participants at the 2025 Catholic Youth Parramatta LIFTED Launch at West HQ, Rooty Hill. Image: Alphonsus Fok/Diocese of Parramatta
CYP encourages and supports young people by offering them spaces to reflect, encounter God, and walk together in faith. Opportunities to gather, such as the Good Friday Night Walk and LIFTED Retreat, help young people experience Christ-centred community with other young people and enter more deeply into their faith. In this Jubilee Year, though, each of these opportunities bear a deeper purpose – to invite young people to embrace the call to be pilgrims of hope, both physically and spiritually.
This year, young people are encouraged to reflect on what it means to be pilgrims of hope, by engaging in local and Diocesan initiatives like pilgrimages and retreats, taking up local leadership roles, and engaging in prayer and discernment around what it looks like to embody the spirit of pilgrimage in their daily lives. These messages also serve as important points of reference for the Diocesan Pastoral Plan for a Synodal Church, which calls all people, including young people, to be a Church that lives in a state of continual listening, discernment, and walking together. In all of this, CYP continues to foster a spirit of joy in everything it does.
Young people in reflection during the Catholic Youth Parramatta LIFTED Retreat at The Collaroy Centre. Image: Alphonsus Fok/Diocese of Parramatta
Already in 2025, CYP has had the privilege of sharing the call to be pilgrims of hope with thousands of young people in schools and parishes across the Diocese.
In mid-May, CYP, in collaboration with Catholic Schools Parramatta Diocese (CSPD), hosted LIFTED Jnr, LIFTED Rise, and LIFTED Unleashed, for students in Years 5 & 6, Years 7 & 8 and Years 9 & 10 respectively. Each of these days, highlighted both by moments of joyful praise and heartfelt prayer, unpacked the theme of hope, and shared practical tools for embodying hope in the world. One student shared that their experience was “inspiring and eye-opening”, and “was a great opportunity to strengthen [their] beliefs, while delivering the message of hope and life”.
Ultimately, CYP, as it always has, will continue to dedicate itself to strengthening Christ-centred community, facilitating opportunities to deepen faith, and forming leaders for mission and service through accompaniment, out of the belief that both the Church and the world need young people who are hopeful, passionate and joyful missionary disciples.
Sr Rosie Drum mgl speaks during Catholic Youth Parramatta’s LIFTED Rise for Year 7 and 8 students. Image: CYP/Diocese of Parramatta
Pope Francis’s words serve as a powerful reminder that this mission is as important as ever, and that it is a mission which belongs not to a few, but to the whole Church.
In this Jubilee Year, may we each have the courage to walk as bold witnesses of hope in this world and joyfully respond to Christ’s call in our lives.
For more information on CYP events this year, go to parracatholic.org, and search ‘CYP’.
Sebastian Duhau and Hannah Portelli are Facilitators – Catholic Youth Parramatta as part of the Diocese’s Mission Enhancement Team (MET).
This article was originally published in the 2025 Ordinary Time | Winter edition of the Catholic Outlook Magazine. You can read the digital version here or pick up a copy in your local parish.
